Welcome to our weekly news digest, where you'll find the latest piecemeal updates about Netflix's Witcher series and Cyberpunk 2077, and also other things that happened in PC gaming. There was a lot of news this week—but it never really slows down—so let's dive in.
• Valve may be working on a new game code-named Citadel (opens in new tab)
Yet another Valve rumor has come from a Dota 2 update, which sometimes contain references to clearly non-Dota things.
• GTA Online's casino update is out next week (opens in new tab)
You can get a free penthouse if you're a Twitch Prime subscriber. Otherwise, we expect they'll cost a lot of GTA bucks.
• Chinese FF14 players are eating inhuman piles of KFC to earn Chocobos (opens in new tab)
It seems they didn't want people to buy the family-sized meals for the code and then throw them out, so you have to eat them to get one. Some brave gamers have decided to take the challenge on alone.
• Cyberpunk 2077 will have a 'hardcore mode' with no UI, but not Lady Gaga (opens in new tab)
I'm not sure how the rumor that Lady Gaga would be in Cyberpunk got started, but there you go, it's not true. Samuel's tweet about Cyberpunk news hasn't entirely come to pass yet, but there are still quite a few weeks before its release date:
Every day there's a new story about a tiny, incremental detail in Cyberpunk 2077 that somehow no one knew about yet. 'Cyberpunk 2077 will let you program your dog, but cats will program *you*'July 17, 2019
• PC passes PS4 to become Ubisoft's top revenue generator (opens in new tab)
A company that once had a troubled relationship with the PC has now seen it become its best-performing platform. Microsoft also saw an increase in PC revenue (opens in new tab).
• Unearthed The Sims design docs show the internal debate over same-sex relationships (opens in new tab)
A programmer who hadn't realized there was any debate over it at all just added it to the game, and it stuck.
• The Witcher will be a 'very adult' show with lots of monsters, no villain (opens in new tab)
Finally: confirmation that there will be monsters. We also got a look at Roach this week. You will probably not be surprised to discover that Roach looks like a horse (opens in new tab).
Oh, and we also got a trailer (opens in new tab). Happy Friday! Here it is:
• Tim Willits is leaving id Software (opens in new tab)
He's been with the Doom and Quake developer since 1995. Years ago, he regaled me with the story of the discovery of rocket jumping, and because I'm stupid I didn't record it. I remember it being a good story, though!
• Leaked Marvel's Avengers video shows Thor gameplay (opens in new tab)
It's not the best view of the action from Comic-con, but you can watch it below.
(opens in new tab)
• This working calculator in Cities: Skylines is powered by human poo (opens in new tab)
The most important story of the week by far.
Intel says it was too aggressive pursuing 10nm, will have 7nm chips in 2021 (opens in new tab)
"The short story is we learned from it, we'll get our 10nm node out this year," said Intel CEO Bob Swan. "Our 7nm node will be out in two years and it will be a 2.0X scaling so back to the historical Moore's Law curve."
• One of the best Witcher 3 graphics mods is even better now (opens in new tab)
The Witcher 3 was already a pretty game, but this mod significantly increases the detail and sharpness of the textures.
• Gamers with godlike reflexes are racing to break world records in this rhythm game (opens in new tab)
One of our most-read stories of the week. Their skills really are a sight to behold.
More news
- Fallout 76 players are begging Bethesda for a test server after a buggy patch (opens in new tab)
- Borderlands 3 will not have cross-play at launch (opens in new tab)
- Dota Underlords has a bunch of new heroes on the way (opens in new tab)
- Fortnite Season 9 closes this weekend with (probably) a giant monster fight (opens in new tab)
- Shanghai Dragons win Overwatch League Stage 3 playoffs (opens in new tab)
- Epic is giving away two free games next week to ensure that everybody gets one (opens in new tab)
- Hearthstone card reveal: meet Dinotamer Brann (opens in new tab)
- Rainbow Six Siege testing big nerfs to shield operators (opens in new tab)
- An ambitious GTA Online-alike won't be allowed to finish its Kickstarter campaign (opens in new tab)
Tweet of the week
During last week's PC Gaming Show (you can watch it Wednesdays at 1 pm Pacific on Twitch (opens in new tab)), Steven learned that he doesn't know as much about bug anatomy as he thought.
Oh my god pic.twitter.com/X0dcXTwYnIJuly 11, 2019
Around the office
It happened again. The first time, it was Wes who carelessly swung his sword (opens in new tab) near a Sea of Thieves powder keg, wiping the entire squad and sinking our galleon. This time, I am ashamed to admit that it was me. But it was just a misclick! And honestly, I was nowhere near the barrel, or so I thought. After that, I resolved to switch to two guns, and then empty them of ammo before acquiring any more gunpowder.
Meanwhile, Evan was having a very good night in Apex Legends (opens in new tab), and also explored a very strange game (opens in new tab) set in the remains of Earth's last de_dust2 server.
Finally, both Andy and James attempted to do some virtual woodworking (opens in new tab). Good job, guys!
Perfect. pic.twitter.com/6nTjRlw2mLJuly 19, 2019
pic.twitter.com/Dv59TOfqW7July 19, 2019
That's all, folks. Have a great weekend and may your clicks all be on purpose and not the kind that blow up all your treasure.
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